Domoic acid (DA) is a kainic acid-type neurotoxin that causes amnesic shellfish poisoning (ASP).

[3] Domoic acid was first isolated in 1959 from a species of red algae, Chondria armata, in Japan, which is commonly referred to as dōmoi (ドウモイ) in the Tokunoshima dialect, or hanayanagi.

In 2015, the North American Pacific coast was heavily impacted by an algal bloom, consisting predominantly of the domoic acid-producing pennate diatom, Pseudo-nitzschia.

[6] Domoic acid has been suggested to have been involved in an incident which took place on June 22, 2006, when a California brown pelican flew through the windshield of a car on the Pacific Coast Highway.

[7] On Friday, June 14, 2019, a teenager was attacked and injured by a sea lion that was alleged to be under the influence of domoic acid in Pismo Beach on the Central California coast.

DabD then performs three successive oxidation reactions at the 7′-methyl of L-NGG to produce 7′-carboxy-L-NGG, which is then cyclized by DabC to generate the naturally occurring isodomoic acid A.

It may also cause kidney damage – even at levels considered safe for human consumption, a new study in mice has revealed.

Domoic acid can bioaccumulate in marine organisms such as shellfish, anchovies, and sardines that feed on the phytoplankton known to produce this toxin.

Domoic acid is a neurotoxin that inhibits neurochemical processes, causing short-term memory loss, brain damage, and, in severe cases, death in humans.

In the 1987 domoic acid poisoning on Prince Edward Island concentrations ranging from 0.31 to 1.28 mg/kg of muscle tissue were noted in people that became ill (three of whom died).

[6] New research has found that domoic acid is a heat-resistant and very stable toxin, which can damage kidneys at concentrations that are 100 times lower than what causes neurological effects.

Cooking or freezing affected fish or shellfish tissue that are contaminated with domoic acid does not lessen the toxicity.